Ann Romney's 1994 interview about how she & Mitt were so poor as students they had to sell stock

[highplainsdem]

She left that detail out of her speech tonight...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/04/16/romney_sold_stock_to_pay_for_college.html

Andrew Sabl quotes a 1994 interview with Ann Romney in the Boston Globe wherein she explains the material deprivation she and Mitt undertook in their student days, when both were so poor and jobless they had to support themselves by selling shares of stock that Mitt had been given by his dad:

They were not easy years. You have to understand, I was raised in a lovely neighborhood, as was Mitt, and at BYU, we moved into a $62-a-month basement apartment with a cement floor and lived there two years as students with no income. It was tiny. And I didn’t have money to carpet the floor. But you can get remnants, samples, so I glued them together, all different colors. It looked awful, but it was carpeting.

We were happy, studying hard. Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time. The stock came from Mitt’s father. When he took over American Motors, the stock was worth nothing. But he invested Mitt’s birthday money year to year—it wasn’t much, a few thousand, but he put it into American Motors because he believed in himself. Five years later, stock that had been $6 a share was $96 and Mitt cashed it so we could live and pay for education.

Mitt and I walked to class together, shared housekeeping, had a lot of pasta and tuna fish and learned hard lessons.

"Students with no income."

Just enough stock to sell off "a little at a time" to pay for ALL their college and living expenses.


More from an April article at Gothamist.com about that interview for the Boston Globe, which was so revealing of of her background that even the conservative Boston Herald followed it with an article calling her "Daughter of Privilege" -- and note what Ann said then about "living on the edge" and the Herald's reaction:

http://gothamist.com/2012/04/14/ann_romney_in_1994_mitt_thought_it.php

So when Ann Romney describes living frugally (according to her they're still not out of the woods yet) did you realize that she was scraping by on Mitt's stock windfall? From money given to Mitt by his father? "We were living on the edge, not entertaining. No, I did not work. Mitt thought it was important for me to stay home with the children, and I was delighted," is what she said in 1994—check that again her statement a few days ago, "I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work." A choice aided by the fact that her father-in-law invested money he gave to Mitt in American Motors, the company he (George Romney) was leading at the time. And it didn't hurt that her husband graduated from Harvard with an MBA and JD and was quickly hired by consulting firms.

Here are some highlights from the Boston Globe article, "Ann Romney's sweetheart deal: She decided her love of 30 years should be senator," by Jack Thomas:

-snip-

When Mitt was at Harvard (remember, he did go there for a joint MBA/JD), Ann said, "Another son came along 18 months later, although we waited four years to have the third, because Mitt was still in school and we had no income except the stock we were chipping away at. We were living on the edge, not entertaining. No, I did not work. Mitt thought it was important for me to stay home with the children, and I was delighted."

-snip-

Even the Boston Globe's rival paper, The Boston Herald, ran a column about the interview. Columnist Margery Egan wrote, "OK, I hate to steal quotes from the competition. Today I cannot help myself... I realized... that Ann Romney has not a clue about my life, nor the lives of anybody I know. 'Living on the edge,' she said. Selling off that stock. She has not an inkling. Not even a hint."

[CountAllVotes]

1. Must be difficult when you don't know you are rich!

btw Ann, I still eat tuna and noodles!!!

[bushisanidiot]

12. What she doesn't understand, is that is how so many families live

Each day, not just in college. And they don't have dads who own a car company to help them out and invest their Birthday money.

[CountAllVotes]

20. I had nothing when I was in college

My Dad got sick the year after I started college. My grandmother was still alive (albeit demented badly) and she paid for my 1st semester.

After that, I was on my own.

I remember having a small plug-in pot that you could boil water in. I'd cook ramen noodles in it and that was my food for the day.

I don't think Mitt and Ann have a clue what it means to need help.

As for the tuna/noodles, there was none for me in college. I had no way to prepare it!

Damn pompous rich-assed creeps!!!

They have not a clue! NONE!

[MatthewStLouis]

19. Spot on! The RMoneys are clueless! /nt

[Historic NY]

2. Must have been some amount of stock....

at least they were eating Ramaden noodles.

[notadmblnd]

26. The article said a few thousand shares. It started out being 6 dollars a share and was worth 96

a share at the time. Loosely, it translates to a few hundred thousand dollars. Yeah, I say they were pretty destitute

[WI_DEM]

3. what a crock of manure that is. Anybody who falls for that is stupid.

[Raster]

4. No shit. Mind you we were so poor we had to sell stock. Not get jobs. Sell stock.

[highplainsdem]

5. She's learned not to mention the stock any more, after being hammered for it when Mitt

was running for senator. Now we just hear about the basement apartment and tuna and pasta.

[Angry Dragon]

6. I wonder if she has any idea of the cost of pasta and tuna fish today.

I can remember when you could buy pasta and tuna fish pretty cheap ........ not any more

[Lifelong Protester]

7. So I'm wondering about this line:

"Another son came along 18 months later, although we waited four years to have the third, because Mitt was still in school

Was she using the birth control that personhood laws would make illegal?
Was there no hanky-panky for four years?

Just curious. You know, like how repubs seem to be all up in everyone ELSE'S business...

[DLevine]

13. Excellent question. n/t

[ellisonz]

8. A few thousand dollars in 1960s amounts...

Such a pittance.

[highplainsdem]

9. A few thousand initially, worth about 20 times as much by the time Romney started selling it off.

So I think that stock would have been worth at least a few hundred thousand in 2012 dollars.

Easily enough to pay for good schools -- through grad school -- and living expenses, so they didn't have to work.

But Ann obviously believes they were suffering, "living on the edge."

[TexasBushwhacker]

10. They just don't get it

Like when Mitt suggested that young people could just borrow $20K from their parents to start a business.

I will say this though. Both of them came from wealthy families. Why were they having to put themselves through college? It seems a bit odd that they were expected to support themselves with Mitt's stock. I wonder if their families didn't approve of their marriage. I read that when they reconnected after his return from France, they wanted to marry right away. Their parents made them wait 3 months.

[highplainsdem]

11. kick

[reformist2]

14. Ann Romney: "We were living on the edge"....LOL!!!

[riderinthestorm]

15. Tuna noodle casserole is a GOOD dinner at our house. And even poor, we always "entertained"

I know the "we had to sell stock to live and go to school" bit really looks bad. And it is.

But every time I hear the "oh we were so poor we had to eat pasta and tuna" schtick, I know she really doesn't understand how the 99% live, or that they were "so poor" they couldn't "entertain". Really? You never had friends stop over for a chat, drink and a snack? Or a Sunday pot luck brunch? A "bring your own brats, snacks, and drinks and we'll watch the football game together?" A kids play date? Even during my poorest days, we still managed to invite folks over to help finish up the Christmas leftovers and foodie gifts the day after.... This is how the 99% "entertain". Maybe she feels that this isn't real "entertaining", or more likely, she doesn't recognize this is the way the rest of us do it. It only takes a moment for it to sink in - what IS entertaining to her? If the usual get-togethers don't qualify, then obviously her version of entertaining is set at such a different standard....

99% of Americans grew up eating and loving tuna noodle casserole as comfort food. For really poor people it was a treat and a step up from Kraft mac and cheese, Ramen, or hot dogs. For the rest of us it was a comfort food staple in the meal time lineup. It still is in my house today for my own kids. Denigrating it as some kind of poverty marker really shows her as out of touch with how the rest of us live.

[highplainsdem]

16. +1,000

[Cleita]

22. Also she wouldn't even call it tuna casserole. She called it pasta with tuna.

So pretentious.

[riderinthestorm]

24. I know right? It kills me everytime she phrases it like that! Awful nt

[Jennicut]

17. Most of the people I went to college with worked when not taking classes.

They were waiting tables or working at a gas station or CVS. "Selling off stock" and thinking that is scraping by is so out of touch.

I grew up in a wealthy town in Connecticut and admit it. My parents were upper middle class but I admit it. Any time I needed help, they would help me. My parents own a second house along a lake property that my brother and I will inherit that is worth $2 million. My brother and I really don't have to worry about our future. I stayed home for 3 years with my two daughters because my husband thought it was best for our girls. I was and am lucky, extremely lucky. Why doesn't Anne and Mittens just admit they had an easy life and say they were lucky. It would make them less insincere. I have more issue with their trying to relate to people in a fake way and their lies about it then their actual wealth. I have never really struggled, ever. I do have empathy for those that have, however. The Romneys have none.

[rustydog]

18. It must be difficult for these people who are just like us...

She has so many dilemmas, does she take the car elevator to retrieve the bentley or send the butler.
should she draw the bath for her children or have the maid do it. What should be prepared for dinner, she'll have to schedule a meeting with the chef.
The country club is on the way to the private school, she could load the kids into the rolls and drop them off at school...Damn, then she and Mitt have to decide which state to register to vote in, that is the curse of having eight mansions. Damn, it must be difficult being "normal" in America.

[pepperbear]

21. translation: we didn't have any logs, so we just burned money to keep warm.

[SmileyRose]

23. In 1963 my mom was dumpster diving for food for us kids

She almost died from starvation because she made sure dad and us ate. She'd make sure to fake us out.

Dad had 2 jobs. Mom did too.

One of dad's job creators fired him for missing 3 days of work to keep his wife alive.

ANN ROMNEY CAN GO TO HELL

[woo me with science]

25. The Romney idea of "living on the edge"

should be a campaign mantra. Talk about no clue whatsoever.

[Hippo_Tron]

27. Why didnt they folow Paul Ryan's example and get a job?

Inquiring minds want to know...

[ibegurpard]

28. uh, he paid for his college with social security...

[Hippo_Tron]

29. Shhh don't tell Paul Ryan that...

[jsr]

30. She never mentioned this college delicacy: